


The Hearts Content

by t_shirt



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Fluff bunnies abound!, M/M, mention of lemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22576258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_shirt/pseuds/t_shirt
Summary: Duo joins Hiiro on a seaward journey of enlightenment.I have art for this somewhere, but I still can't seem to get images to work on this site. *gomen*
Relationships: 1x2 - Relationship, mention of 3x4
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	The Hearts Content

Post war cannon/Romance  
1x2, mention of 3x4  
Fluff bunnies abound! bound ..-``-.. bound ..-``-.. ^-^  
Mention of lemon

Summary: Duo joins Hiiro on a seaward journey of enlightenment. 

I have never known peace. It seems strange that I spent my entire life fighting for something I could not truly understand. The world was settling into a unity that spread throughout the nations, but I felt no kinship with the rest of humankind, so I took the funds provided to me for my service during the war, bought a trimaran that I christened the `Heart’s Content` and set sail on a journey that I hoped would end somewhere I could call home. 

I wondered why I asked Duo to come along while he waved at me from the bow with that silly grin on his face. The whole idea was to get away from it all and find the sort of inner peace that seemed to come so easily to everyone else. Quatre and Trowa had discovered serenity in each other and even Wufei had finally laid his demons to rest, but I had been on the road of a warrior for so long…then there was Duo. 

He is as fierce a fighter as I have ever seen, but there is a compassion in his heart that seems to wash his soul clean the moment it is tainted. He called himself Shinigami, which I thought was an arrogant name at first, but the longer I knew him the more I realized how suited he was to the title. It’s almost as if no evil that touches him can remain. I see this in his easy manner, his giving nature and the happiness that still remains in his smile. He’s not really the best of sailors though, and I stifled a laugh when he slipped while reaching for a stay line and ended up sitting in a swab bucket with a mop on his head. 

“Yuck it up, flyboy,” he groused, tumbling over the deck while he tried to free himself and we both ended up laughing our asses off. 

“There might be some dry clothes down below,” I chuckled. 

We weren’t even out of sight of land yet and I already felt the salty sea air draining me of my anxiety. 

“Great,” he grumbled, shaking the suds from his hands. “Hope there’s a belt ‘cause your pants are going to fall right off me.”

“Look around,” I grinned, shifting our course to optimize the wind. “Maybe the Summerlins left something aboard.”

I had bought the boat sight unseen from a couple that was expecting their first child. Apparently, they were in need of the money because they took the cash and handed over the title so fast it made me a little wary. However, I have inspected the Heart’s Content thoroughly and found no flaw in her that would constitute the need for a quick sale, but under the circumstances there was a good possibility that they had left goods aboard. 

“Yeah,” he grumbled sarcastically, backing down the steps to the hold, “That’ll be better. Maternity clothes.”

It felt really good to laugh and be able to breathe in the clean, crisp air. Not to have to think about the next step, the next mission or whose father I might be laying to rest tonight. There is a gentle calm that penetrates the soul sleeping in the ocean waves, a simplicity in the winds caress that can strip a man’s soul bare given time. It’s what I wanted, what I hoped for and feared all at once because quite honestly, I was a little frightened of who I might really be. However, sombre thoughts are quite difficult to maintain when Duo pops up dressed in a yellow and red, polka dot bikini top and cut off blue jean shorts. I lost control of the wheel and had a stitch in my side before I could stop laughing. 

“Mrs. Summerlin was a busty little thing,” he laughed, sauntering around with one hand on his hip and the other behind his ear while he batted his eyes at me. 

“What have you got in there?” I chortled, getting us back on course. 

“Grapefruits,” he chirped, popping one out for my inspection. 

“You are certifiable,” I chuckled. 

“I’m also hungry,” he replied. “Got a knife?” 

“Where are yours?” 

“Down below,” he informed me, adding while I stared in shock at the fact that he was unarmed, “They didn’t go with the outfit.”

At that point it was official because peace had truly been achieved when Duo went about without a weapon. At least his peace had, so I handed him my knife and tried not to think too hard about my need to be armed while in the middle of the ocean with no one but Duo. He popped his other boob out and tossed it to me so I locked us on course and kicked back to enjoy our snack. The irony of the situation didn’t really hit me until he suddenly asked, “So, where’re we headed?”

I chuckled at the raw tenacity he so often displayed and answered him with a question of my own. “Why in the hell did you even agree to come along?” I laughed while tossing bits of peel at him. 

“Are you kidding?” he smiled and I was gratified that he crawled out of the bikini top and tossed it away before stretching out and lying back on the deck with this huge grin on his face. “Just look at that sky,” he sighed, tucking one arm beneath his head, but I was more inclined to watch the expression in his eyes. “Who’d want to be anywhere else but here?”

I was suddenly acutely aware of just how blue the sky really was in its infinite expanse, the supple roll of the sea beneath us, how the wind danced in the air and that Duo looks disturbingly feminine in cut off blue jeans.

“I’m going to take a swim.”

“What?!” There was nowhere to anchor and we were under full sail!

“See if you can find some decent music in that pitiful collection of CDs you brought along,” he smiled, then grabbed the end of the aft dock line and dove off the back of the boat. 

I watched in mild shock while the coils of rope were quickly sucked into the sea as his head popped up some distance away until the line suddenly went taut and he rose above the waves howling at the top of his lungs while displaying a graceful talent at barefoot skiing. What else could I do? I dropped some Nittle Grasper in the stereo, cranked it up till I could feel it in the deck and got out the vid cam. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon pretty much full throttle. The wind was high, the sun warm and our thirst for adventure had us trying everything from Duo’s impromptu skiing to parasailing with the sheets off my bunk. That didn’t work out so well, but watching Duo roll around laughing when they ripped and dropped me in the water was worth it. We were both exhausted by the time the air began to cool and our stomachs forced us to settle down to eat. 

“What in the hell is this?” he asked, pulling out a package of dried fish snacks.

“Chinmi,” I chuckled, because his nose had curled up when he sniffed them. 

“Didn’t you bring any real food?”

“There’s beef strips and rice in the freezer.” There is absolutely no trace of the fearsome Shinigami in him when he smiles like that. 

I had stocked a number of prepared meals to minimize the need for mundane chores, but it never occurred to me that my efforts would utterly delight my unexpected second mate. He went below to heat it up while I nibbled on chinmi, sipped an ice-cold beer and watched the sun slowly sinking into the sea. 

The majestic beauty of the sky when the sun lights it on fire is something no colony bound human could possibly understand. I could have stayed right there until the stars claimed the sky if my nose hadn’t told me Duo had returned, but I balked when I turned around to find he had chosen to cover his bare chest with one of Mrs. Summerlin’s silky pajama tops. 

“You’re welcome to wear my clothes,” I chortled, accepting my plate. 

“What?” he inquired, checking himself over critically. “It’s pretty neutral isn’t it? 

It was, “Except that it’s made of lavender silk,” I laughed. 

“You’re just jealous because I’m prettier than you,” he sniffed and I almost dropped my plate laughing at the indignant pout on his face. 

“Make sure you don’t wear that when we’re in port,” I warned, turning my attention back to my meal. 

“Why are we going to the Philippines?”

“Who said we were?” I smirked.

“Don’t mess with me, Hiiro,” he chuckled. “I’m on a first name basis with the stars too, and they say we’ll be in Narra in less three days with this wind.”

“We’ll need supplies,” I replied, cleaning my plate. 

He was quiet for a time while he finished his dinner and set his plate aside before lying back in the netting and smiling up into the darkening sky. 

“Just look at it,” he breathed so softly my eyes turned to obey without a thought to command them. “It’s almost as if this were all created just for this one moment in time.” 

It was easier to forget the colonies that lie between the sparkling lights above, to move past the fear and uncertainty that dwells in the hearts of humans and see the pristine beauty that surrounded me when looking through his eyes. When I had finally gotten my fill of gazing into infinity I turned back to find he had curled up and dozed off, his face seeming so young in the soft glow still clinging to the horizon and I realized while I listened to the gentle rhythm of his breathing that none of it would seem half as rich without his presence. 

I had fought his desire for companionship during the war thinking there was no time for bonding with others, no room for a weak link, but somehow he found his way into my heart anyway. He and the others, each in their own way had become important to me, but contrary to my training I no could no longer see this as unnecessary. It made me wonder if perhaps the reason I felt no tranquillity was because it still believed autonomy was the only way to survive. He groaned softly with this happy little smile on his lips when I covered him with my coat and I accepted the fact that it was okay that I was glad he was with me. I woke early the next morning to the sound of his crowing voice and found him hanging off the port bow with a straining fishing pole in his hand while he fought to keep his catch from tangling the line under the pontoons. 

“Get the…gaff!” he wailed looking comical as hell while he leaned out over the water and skittered along the deck. 

What in the hell did he have on the…Holy shit! is what my mind supplied when I saw a four feet long amberjack cut through the water under the net. 

“Geez, Duo! That rigging is way too small for a fish that size!” I stumbled in my early morning haze, scrambling to free the gaff. 

“Don’t you think I know that!?” he growled, skipping ungracefully onto the starboard pontoon so he could wrap the pole around a stay line before it got tangled. 

“Bring him over here!”

“Who do you think’s leading who!?!”

I had to dodge when he went careening by as the fish swam hard under my feet, but I couldn’t get to him through the net.

“Damn it, Hiiro! Shoot the damn thing!”

“I’m not going to shoot it!” Was he insane?

“Well, do s…ssssomethiiiiing!!!”

I tried to get out of the way, but he mis-stepped when the fish did a sudden turn around and headed back my way and Duo crashed into me, knocking me head over heals on my ass and the fish easily snapped the line the moment it was taut as Duo lay panting on top of me while he watched it disappear into the depths. 

“It got away,” he breathed over my shoulder while I pondered the wisdom of asking him along after all. 

“You’re heavy,” I complained though it seemed like much too much effort to attempt to remove him. 

“I can’t believe I was bested by a fish,” he groaned, going limp and I chuckled under the dead weight of his body. 

“You were ill equipped,” I consoled, letting the early morning sky rob me of my sight until all that remained was the gentle rocking of the sea and Duo’s solid presence. 

“You should have shot it.”

“It would have sank.”

“Dead fish don’t sink.”

“Then it would have drawn sharks.” My eyes had slipped closed against the brightness while the warmth of the sun aided Duo’s body heat until I felt captured in a simmering bubble not entirely of this world. 

“Sharks are good eating, too,” he countered softly and something wrapped around my spine and washed up through my shoulders when he sighed and curled into me.

I honestly believe that was the first time in my life I had ever experienced what it was like to hug another human being. My mind fought it, tried to tell me to move away, to ignore the warm feeling his presence was giving me, but I had long since overcome the need to shy away from Duo. He had worked so hard to break through my barriers, insisting on touching me, draping an arm over my shoulder, leaning on me or sitting too close that I had become accustomed to his touch. If it was him, I could allow it... if it was him, I could let myself enjoy it and we ended up lying there until I fell back to sleep. 

I woke to the smell of food and we enjoyed the egg sandwiches he had made and the day seemed to slip by much more slowly than the first as our activities weren’t as physically demanding. He challenged me to some target practice and ended up having to change the oil and grease the engines when he lost. Good thing he did though, because he discovered a belt that could use changing and a bad seal we would need to fix when we docked. It felt like we had been drifting for days by the time evening rolled around and I got a feeling of what it must have been like for sailors long ago and why they marked the passage of time on the walls of their ships. 

“You still can’t see them all,” he commented, tossing the rind of his orange into the black waves. 

“But they don’t sparkle in space,” I pointed out, gazing into the black, star speckled velveteen above us. 

“I wonder what the full moon will look like out here,” he pondered. 

“Guess we’ll find out.” 

I understood he was fishing for some sort of time frame for our trip when he smiled and let a quiet, “Cool,” slip from between his lips. 

“Was Quatre disappointed when you told him you wouldn’t be returning?”

He had been helping Quatre and Trowa get a handle on the situation on L2, but he shook his head at my concern. 

“They’ve got it under control.”

“You don’t feel you should be there?”

“Naw,” he sighed, kicking back. “This is more important right now.” I would have thought the statement a selfish one if I hadn’t suddenly understood he was there for my sake. “Check it out,” he smiled, indicating a slow moving light in the sky. 

“A shuttle,” I surmised, watching while it glowed and shimmered as it broke free and headed out into space. 

“Do you miss it?” 

Space. “Not really,” I confessed. 

“Not even a little?” he grinned, eyeing me sideways and I felt the tug of longing stir in my mind while I returned the expression. 

“Maybe a little.”

“Look,” he smiled, pointing upward. “There’s Deathscythe.”

“That’s Sagittarius,” I chuckled, lying down beside him so I could see better. 

“Naw,” he insisted. “See the blade?”

“His bow?”

“Blade.”

“Okay, if that’s Deathscythe, where’s Wing?” I grinned. 

“There he is.”

“Hercules?” I snorted.

We spent the next few hours quietly mapping out our own version of the constellations and I found myself regretting the need to dock in Narra the next day. The thought that he might find some reason to leave left me uneasy not only because I knew I would miss him, but it was an unfamiliar feeling to not want to be alone. I woke to the sound of sea birds, the gentle caress of the ocean breeze and the oddly pungent scent of his warm hair filling my nostrils. 

We had fallen asleep curled in the port net where gravity drew us closer together during the night until our shoulders were pressed together and I somehow had gotten my face buried in his hair. It was a husky aroma I found quite pleasing and prompted my lungs to draw deeply of the scent while we lay together under the brightening sky. 

“Mornin’,” he sighed softly, but appeared no more eager to move than I, so I forced the urge to retreat away and allowed myself the indulgence of human contact. 

I had not expected him to roll over and snuggle into my chest. There are times when I wonder just how deep the wounds of his youth could be, how long he had lived without knowing even the security of an adult’s presence in his life. Times when his thirst for companionship makes me want to stay with him and protect him, so I shook off the shock, forced my body to relax and let my arms hold him for a very long time. It was his stomach, once again, that signalled our time was up. 

“Breakfast or lunch?” he chuckled.

I sighed in my reluctance to move and peeked at the sun’s position in the sky. “Lunch.”

“You need a shower.”

I snorted and pulled him tight and understood for the first time that it was really okay to let myself need him, but our jovial amusement was suddenly interrupted when a cold spray of water shot up from beneath us and we both jumped up screaming in shock, each of us laughing heartily while we stared down at a dolphin cutting playfully through the waves. 

“Wow! Look!” he beamed excitedly and my eyes skimmed the water where dozens of jumping dolphins were to be seen all around us. 

Lunch was forgotten when he raced for the bow and hung out over the water trying his best to touch the bobbing heads of the playful dolphins while I ginned like a lunatic and went to check our position. We were right on course, ahead of schedule actually, and I took great pleasure in watching his face light up when I dropped sail. We had barely slowed down when he dashed across the deck, let loose a howl and did a cannonball off the back of the boat. I have never known anyone so full of life and said a silent thank you to whatever forces had granted me his friendship while I stripped off my shirt, grabbed a couple of dock lines and dove in after him. 

Dolphins are very curious creatures apparently, because I suddenly felt like a stray dog that had wandered into a school full of children. Duo was diving deep below the surface turning and paddling as best he could while the sleek youngsters darted around him. It took me a minute to get his attention, but he managed to snag one of them by the dorsal and ride it toward me when it came to investigate me. 

“They’re incredible!” he gasped, clinging to my hand so we could stay together while the boat gently pulled us along. 

“They appear to think the same of you,” I chuckled and had to hold him still to tie the rope around his waist while they schooled in a thick vortex below us. 

“This is so cool,” he grinned and I felt my mind go completely blank for the first time in my life when he kissed me on the cheek and said, “Thanks,” before sinking beneath the waves. 

I did not understand the rising jubilation inside me nor did I care to analyze it when I was overwhelmed with welling emotion and took great pleasure in simply revelling in the moment while I followed him into the welcoming arms of the sea. He had chosen well when he called them incredible, I never would have imagined these creatures could possess such high intelligence, but there was one point when a huge male circled close and his black eyes considered me from toes to hair before they settled and he gazed directly into my eyes. My resolve to protect and maintain the peace on this planet doubled when my heart understood there are more races on Earth that are worthy of life than humans alone and I swear, when Duo let one of the young push him by his feet until they both broke the surface and fell laughing back into the sea he rolled his eyes at me before he swam away. 

It was well into the afternoon before the school finally drifted off and we headed topside in search of the lunch we had been denied. I was thankful that I had stocked the prepared food because neither of us were willing to wait for something to be cooked. 

“Why does everything have rice in it?” he grumbled, but quickly devoured his food regardless. 

“I…don’t know,” I chuckled because I had never really thought about it before. 

“First thing we’re going to do when we dock is get a big, juicy hamburger.”

“Are the engines ready?” I inquired, preferring to drop sail before we entered the inlet. 

“Number two might need oil,” he replied while he set his empty plate aside and went to get a quart. 

I suppose it was partially my fault since it was me who began to drop the sails, but any sailor knows to always be aware of the boom. I believe I mentioned Duo is not the best sailor around, so he didn’t even consider the danger and my face screwed up in sympathy when the boom slammed into him, knocking him head over heals, scattering plates and cups and general debris all over the place and ending with him in a tumbled mess in the swab bucket while the broken bottle of oil chugged all over the deck. I thought I would die laughing. 

“Warn a guy would’ya!” he grumbled. 

“S…sorry,” I stammered, holding the stitch in my side. 

He was good enough to offer to clean it up while I radioed Narra that we would be coming in a little late and set our new course. We had drifted some distance during our frolic with the dolphins, but I figured we could still make land before nightfall. The sun was warm and the sky so crisp and clear I could hardly believe it had only been three days. It seemed almost as if it had always been this way and I breathed deeply of the salty air while Duo crawled around scrubbing the upper deck and I concluded that I could very easily get used to this and that those shorts should definitely be outlawed. 

“You should change before we dock,” I reminded him, adjusting our course while Narra rose on the horizon. 

“Why?” he grinned over his shoulder while he shook his rear. “Afraid someone else might want to stare at my ass?”

“You look like a woman,” I teased. 

“Why Mr. Yui,” he drawled in a horrible southern accent and I laughed when he stood and sauntered toward the hatch. “I do declare, if you don’t say the sweetest of things. I shall follow your advice as your wisdom is certainly in the best interest of protecting my youthful virtue…”

I was able to maintain the laugh until his voice faded as he disappeared into the hold, but it faltered once he had gone because I was a little bit confused by the fact that the conversation had left me well on my way to a full erection. Well, this was…new. I am a seventeen-year-old male, so the arrival of an erection was not uncommon as it happened from time to time whether I wanted it to or not, but things of that nature are as easily controllable as one’s heart rate or respiration. However, I could not recall a time when it had happened in direct response to another human being and for the first time, wondered about the necessity of suppressing it. Fortunately, he emerged wearing the red and white striped shirt and men’s cut offs he had originally boarded with and the odd, unfamiliar feelings eased. 

The port I had chosen was small and out of the way offering a number of comfortable motels and restaurants that would permit us some time off ship. I let him pick and we ended up at a local inn called the Sandlefoot that was within walking distance of the docks. I had intended to rent a car, but it seemed redundant in the face of his practicality, so we stuffed what we needed into a duffle and headed out. The inn was nice if not a little unkempt, but it was right on the river and had a large dock with a bar and restaurant. The room was small with two twin beds, but it had a full bathroom, something he insisted on and I understood the moment he unpacked that huge bottle of shampoo. 

“You better go first,” he chuckled, tossing an equally large bottle of conditioner on the counter. 

“Will you be back this century?” I teased and he batted me with the end of his braid before pulling the tie off. 

“No hurry,” he grumbled, working at the tangle the tip had become. 

I should have gone into the bathroom and started my shower, but something made me pause before I could get through the door. He had gone to sit on the edge of his bed while his fingers carefully unwound the knots one by one as if snapping even one hair would have been tragic and I recalled that I once wondered why he kept it at such an unreasonable length. Over time it had simply become a part of him, it was no different than his arms or legs and my mind pushed the oddity of his thigh length hair aside until I saw him unravelling it with painstaking care. It is quite beautiful, but I doubted that had anything to do with it while I watched his careful efforts. 

“Go ahead,” he sighed dejectedly, turning unconsciously to hide his activities. 

“What?”

“Why don’t you just cut it, Duo?” he mocked sarcastically, repeating what his mind supplied must be my thoughts. “It’s ridiculous and impractical…”

“Want some help?” I cut him off as he had reached mid length and was having trouble unwinding it behind his shoulders. 

He stopped and peered at me, staring warily until I cracked a grin and he laughed and relented. 

“It’s not a vanity thing you know?” he said while I went to work. 

It was strangely soothing to work with as the texture was soft and silky unlike my own coarse locks and it ran like liquid chestnut between my fingers. 

“I always wondered why you kept it,” I confessed. “It’s not like you to be frivolous.”

“It’s mine,” he stated simply. “I don’t even like people to touch it.”

I froze where I had been wasting time fiddling around needlessly at the nape of his neck and he tossed a grin over his shoulder. 

“You’re okay, I trust you,” he told me and I laughed a little when I resumed. “Actually, it feels great,” he confessed, sitting up to stretch and hang his head back while the fullness of his thick hair bounced free and unfettered into my lap and I shivered from head to toe with the softness of its caress.

“I won’t be long,” I told him and retreated into the bathroom because attempting to repress what was happening between my thighs had suddenly become a futile activity. 

And it refused to go away. It scared me a little to not be able to control my own body, but this was the very reason I decided to embark on my journey. These were the types of things that made humans human and somehow I had to convince my brain that the rest of me was important, too. That included admitting I needed things like companionship and sexual gratification. As many times as my body has demanded affection I had forced it into submission; that is to say, I had never allowed myself to feel the effects of ejaculation. It was forbidden like so many other things that could have potentially weakened my mind, but I wanted to break through those barriers and reclaim my humanity, so I bit down on all the warning bells in my mind and took matters in hand. 

The intensity of the swelling emotions was instantly addictive and I couldn’t get the feel of Duo’s hair out of my mind. It seemed to want to rise up and swallow me whole, but I kept it at bay, held it just out of reach because quite honestly it felt damn good. I had mastered the conscious control of my body long ago making it easy enough to maintain the euphoric state I had achieved until I was suddenly assaulted by an image of Duo wearing those little shorts and waggling his ass at me. The resultant explosion both blinded my eyes and bled all the strength out of my legs so that I ended up leaning against the wall and knocking half my toiletries onto the floor looking for something to grab hold of. 

“Hey, man!” he called, knocking on the door, but I couldn’t find enough air to reply. “You okay?”

“Fine!” I barked, getting my feet under me while I fought off another full body shiver and made a note that J had been entirely correct to forbid this activity because I already wanted to do it again. 

I made a point of not looking directly at him when I emerged, then took some time to memorize the layout of the town, checked the weather and news and jacked in to download my email and some schematics on our engines while he bathed.

“Anything from Quatre?” he asked, still braiding his long, wet hair when he stepped out of the bathroom and I felt my groin twitch in response. 

Apparently, I had a hair fetish. 

“They seem to be having problems convincing the labour force in the K area that they would be better off learning to run automated assistants than doing the hard labour themselves.”

“Tell him I’ll make a call,” he said casually, dropping the towel from around his waist and I suddenly forgot how to type. “If he doesn’t hear from a man named Smitty by tomorrow night he should contact me again.”

Quatre. Smitty. Reply. Right, type. I managed to pull my gaze away before he glanced back at me and pretended my face had not caught on fire while I relayed his message and he got dressed. When I had gathered enough nerve to look up again I almost groaned out loud as he had apparently found a pair of Mrs. Summerlin’s jeans back aboard the boat and had poured himself into them. They weren’t feminine like the shorts, just simple jeans, but they were two sizes too small and rode low on his hips while one of my shirts dangled loosely about his waist. 

“We should get you some clothes while we’re here,” I suggested. 

“K,” he agreed, lacing his boots. “I would’ve packed something if I’d have known you were going to invite me along.”

“We can stop on the way to dinner.”

“Sign out front said they have a band here later tonight,” he smiled. “Why don’t we just eat here and go shopping tomorrow?”

I really needed him to change those pants, but I agreed. 

“Cool,” he chirped and I questioned the intelligence of having given into my carnal desires when he stood and shook himself as if settling into his boots because the urge to do it again was returning full force. “First, I need to get to an inter-colony feed and make that call.”

“Got one,” I grinned, snapping my laptop closed and we headed for the spaceport on the outskirts of town. 

Remarkably, there are few people who believe us when we identify ourselves as two of the Gundam pilots as most scoff at either our age or consider us impudent teens out to play tricks until we are forced to pull our Preventer’s badges, which was something I had not carried on my person as I was not on active duty and Duo had left…well…in his other pants. Those of a higher rank often know who we are though, so I dropped the name of the current commander and balked when, instead of Colonel Riker, Chang Wufei arrived to meet us. 

“Wufei!” Duo crowed happily and though our Chinese counterpart eyed him suspiciously I could see the affection in his eyes. “What’re you doing here?”

“We’re on our way to L3,” Sally smiled, stepping from behind him. 

“Layover?” 

“Our shuttle leaves in an hour,” Wufei informed us. 

“Excellent,” Duo grinned. “I need to make a call for Quatre, then you can fill us in.”

I was forced to field questions about what we were doing and how it had come about that I was floating around the ocean with Duo Maxwell while he made his call, but neither of them seemed to have anything to ask Duo once he returned. The conversation quickly turned to their trip and what goals they intended to accomplish, when they would return and if they would be able to drop by L2 to see Trowa and Quatre and then suddenly their time was up and they were called to board. Sally kissed Duo’s cheek and smiled at me in a way I didn’t understand before following Wufei and I was once again able to relax with only Duo by my side.

“I’m starving,” he commented, which signalled my stomach to growl and we both laughed and headed back to the inn. 

He got his hamburger. It was an enormous thing piled high with every condiment and topping he could think of and I wondered where he had put it all because there certainly wasn’t enough room in those jeans for anything but him and I was not the only person in the place to notice this fact either. Most everyone glanced our way more than once, but two young ladies seemed particularly taken with our presence. Every time I glanced their way they were whispering and giggling to each other while they watched us eat until Duo finally smiled into his French fries and commented. 

“You shouldn’t tease them unless you want to spend time with them,” he grinned and I balked. 

“What?”

“They think you’re flirting with them,” he informed me. 

“I…” Was I?

“You want to meet them?” he asked and before I could stop him he flashed a brilliant smile in their direction and the next thing I knew they were standing at our table, giddy smiles, half shirts, hot pants and all.

“Hi,” the brunette smiled happily. “I’m Loni, this is Trish. Are you guys from around here?”

“We just docked this afternoon,” Duo replied, adding, “I’m Duo,” while he smoothly pushed a chair out with his foot to accommodate her. “This is Hiiro,” he told them while Loni snatched up the chair Duo had offered and Trish bounced around to the other side to sit by me. “How’re things down under?” he asked, picking up on their accent. 

“Dull as a warthog’s head,” Loni laughed. “Where do you mates call home?”

“We’re off worlders,” he smiled and I cringed when they squealed. 

“That’s so amazing!” Loni exclaimed. 

“I’ve never been off planet,” Trish sighed, gazing at me dreamily when she asked, “Is it wonderful?”

My eyes went a little wide when I turned them on Duo because I had no idea what to say. 

“The sky is much more colourful from this side,” he interjected. 

I realized very quickly how utterly outclassed I was in this sort of situation, but Duo kept trying to include me until the urge to shelter myself got to me and I rose to leave. 

“Hiiro,” he called softly, making me pause.

The girls looked confused if not a tad insulted by my lack of enthusiasm, but it was the pleading in Duo’s eyes that made me sit back down. I didn’t know what he wanted, but I couldn’t stand to see that look on his face, so I resolved myself to try a little harder and when Trish asked where I had attended school I forced myself to reply. 

“I was…privately tutored.”

I could see she was impressed by the answer, but it was the grin on Duo’s face that told me I had chosen an acceptable response and it got a little easier after that. I understood my answers didn’t have to be particularly revealing in order to entertain our guests, especially after Duo had bought them several drinks. I’m not sure what he told the barkeep, but they never asked for our ID’s and I soon found myself in the middle of the dock dancing with Trish while Duo spun Loni around and around. It was fun, like so many things Duo had introduced me to and I thought that maybe not everyone thinks past the point of just hanging out for the fun of it, at least until Trish pulled the pin from her long, dark hair and asked me to slow dance with her. 

I had no idea what to do and turned a questioning eye on Duo, but all he did was show me this smile I had never seen before and watch intently when I stood and took her hand. Her body felt different than before, her movements slow and sultry as she stepped into me and though I recognized the invitation to hold her my hand would do nothing more than rest on her hip. My eyes found Duo again when she leaned into me and rested her head on my chest, but he was talking with Loni, so I found no help there. It was uncomfortable, but she was warm and I was reminded of when I had held Duo aboard the Heart’s Content, but where was the restfulness that had eased into my mind? Holding Trish was completely different than the hug he and I had shared. Curiously, I let my arm wrap around her and my fingers came to brush along the thick curls of her hair and move slowly down the slope of her back. She sighed and snuggled against me, but I felt nothing of the powerful desire that had taken me when it was Duo’s hair running between my fingers and something suddenly snapped in my mind. He was staring straight at me when I looked up, his gaze somehow looking right past my eyes and straight into my soul and I understood it wasn’t merely human contact that was calling back my humanity. 

It was Duo.

“Excuse me,” I told her leaving her a bit bewildered when I fled the bar. 

I was grateful when Duo didn’t follow as I was unaccustomed to feeling so off balance and needed some time to think. It occurred to me as I walked the streets that perhaps it would be wise to continue my journey alone. Becoming emotionally attached to Duo was not the point of the mission…no…the missions were over. This was a journey of self-enlightenment…but it was all getting so confused. Needing people was dangerous to them as well as myself…but that didn’t matter anymore, the war was over. I was free to care for others, but how could one exist when so utterly dependent on another? It was late into the morning when I decided to turn my toes back toward the Sandlefoot and the bars along the way were closing up for the night, the streets all but empty and I tried not to look when I passed a darkened doorway where a couple was making out in their reluctance to part for the evening. Either curiosity or some old need to be aware of who is around me forced my eyes to look and I stared a moment too long when I realized it was two men, one of whom smirked at me before pinning his companion to the wall and resuming their kiss. 

I sighed and moved on, feeling the last piece of the puzzle fall into place. Most of my life had been spent repressing and denying my own wants and desires. So much so that I had long since forgotten how to recognize them, but there was no denying it anymore. I was attracted to Duo. His spirit and zest for life had always been a beacon calling to the humanity of my soul, but I hadn’t understood until recently just how badly I wanted to touch him. The problem was I had no idea how he was going to react to my feelings. We were both male after all and after seeing his reaction when his friend Hilde got hurt, after seeing him enjoying himself with Loni, I really didn’t know how to deal with the fact that I very much wanted to hold him down and see what he looked like when drowned in a sea of passion. 

He was asleep when I returned, but I couldn’t doze off. Everything I was feeling, the need to hold and protect him, the desire to lay my mouth against his and bury his body beneath me redoubled when he rolled over and opened his eyes. 

“Mornin,” he smiled. “What time is it?”

“Four a.m.” 

He looked me over and I was grateful when he refrained from asking any questions other than, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“I’m not really tired,” I smiled because I was just happy he was there. 

“It’s freaking four in the morning,” he grumbled, shifting about and I decided to shut off the analysis when his arm reached out to me and he demanded, “Come to bed.”

I went to him without thought and curled up as close as he would allow, which happily, was very, very close. The feeling of peace and tranquillity that washed through me confirmed that it had not been the warmth of the sun or the lulling ocean tide that had enchanted me aboard ship, it was Duo’s presence and I understood that it was much too late to turn back. Whatever was happening between us had already begun and there was nothing to do but ride the wave and see where it was taking us. 

He was gone when I woke, but returned with breakfast before I had finished dressing and everything fell right back into place just as if I hadn’t discovered I was madly in love with him the night before. We hit the parts store first and picked up what we needed to fine tune the engines, then headed for the shops and got him some suitable clothes before heading back to the Heart’s Content. The rest of the day was spent making our repairs and restocking and we spent the night aboard before setting sail with the morning tide. 

The following month was the best time of my entire life. Being with Duo just made everything so much fun. Who would have thought petting stingrays off the coast of Africa or bringing in an eight feet long sailfish in the south Atlantic would have been something I would experience in my life? Infiltrating a moon base or blowing a battle ship out of the water, yes, but fishing wasn’t something I had thought would be in my future anymore than the simple joy of hearing Duo laugh. 

He laughed a lot, usually at my expense, but the longer we were together the more I realized I never wanted to be without him. He was everything to me and he had reminded me that every life was precious during the war. He had awakened in me a desire to stop and see all the beauty that surrounds us and in the end he had opened my heart and allowed me to love. 

“You put de lime in de coconut and mix dem both togedder…”

I was grinning because he had been singing the silly song ever since a little boy at our last port taught it to him. I have no idea why he was wearing Mrs. Summerlin’s shorts again, but he had taken to dressing in very little when we were at sea, so I didn’t question it. Besides, he looked quiet fetching in them while he danced around swabbing the deck. 

“You missed a spot,” I teased and he upped the volume as he spun around and I laughed my ass off when he ended up in the swab bucket again. 

“I’m beginning to take this personally,” he groused when I went to help him out, but our hands slipped and dumped him back in the cold, sudsy water. 

“S…sorry,” I giggled, trying again, but he got cocky and jerked me down, splashing soapy water all over the front of my clothes. 

“Asshole,” he laughed and I joined him, but my mind was quickly being pulled away. 

His skin was slick and warm compared to the cold water and my hand kept slipping off his thigh while I tried to push myself up until I noticed he wasn’t laughing anymore and caught his eye. 

“Duo…” 

“Shhh,” he smiled, reaching out to touch my chest while he asked, “What does your heart tell you?”

So I kissed him. I kissed him and he kissed me back and we made love right there in the soapy mess under the open sky on the deck. I was unprepared for the heat that came pouring out of my body, but he lapped it up with an eagerness that made me understand he had wanted this at least as long as I had. Once the barrier was broken I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off of him, but he rose to the occasion each and every time with the greatest of vigour. It took some time before things started to settle and we fell into a more subtle routine and began to really enjoy just being together. We had spent nearly two months aboard the Heart’s Content before I truly understood that Duo had been my goal all along. He was where I belonged and somehow, somewhere along the way, I had finally found my way home. 

owari :)

**Author's Note:**

> Write it, draw it, create it, sing it, SHARE IT. ~ Sunhawk 2019


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